The OMDC is facing a smaller operating budget this year following a request from the province to cut costs.

The province released its 2016/2017 Expenditure Estimates report this week, which outline its spending requirements to the provincial legislature for approval.

The OMDC has been asked to make a one-time $4-million cut to its budget and a $3.5-million base budget reduction, with the $4 million offset through OMDC reserves. The OMDC’s forecasted operating budget for the 2016/2017 year is $26,450,300.

The changes, however, do not affect the province’s tax credits for the year ahead.

“OMDC will make every effort to minimize impact on industry stakeholders. We are confident that our toolkit of incentives will ensure that Ontario remains competitive,” an OMDC spokesperson told Playback. “While the Ontario government continues to invest in priority areas, they are also committed to managing program expense growth to support a balanced and thoughtful approach to eliminating the deficit.”

The Estimates report forecasts that Ontario’s cultural media tax credits, encompassing book publication, animation and VFX, domestic and foreign production and digital media, will cost $414,042,500 in 2016/2017.

This is an overall decrease of $25.7 million from 2015/16, the year in which the province’s Production Services Tax Credit was cut from 25% to 21.5%.

Just over $170 million of that amount is allotted to the Ontario Film and TV tax credit, with $155 million to the Ontario Production Services tax credit.

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